“The Federal Communications Commission has levied a record fine” against the UFW’s hundred million-dollar social service affiliate that broadcasts farmworker radio stations in California and Arizona, the Los Angeles Times reports. Admitting guilt for illegally running commercial advertising, the Cesar Chavez Foundation, which runs the radios, “agreed to a one-year moratorium on new underwriting from for-profit sponsors on the two stations,” according to the Times. The Cesar Chavez Foundation agreed to pay a $115,000 fine. The two stations are KUFW-FM…

In another Christmas present for California farmworkers, the ALRB has ordered the UFW to inform Gerawan workers that they have a right to de-certify the UFW. This is what Pick Justice has been arguing all along. For the ALRB to acknowledge existing law – and to compel the UFW to inform workers of their rights – is a huge and welcome surprise. The ALRB also compelled the UFW to inform workers that they have the right “to act together with…

The ALRB has ordered the UFW to sign a written notice admitting that it broke the law in harassing the Gerawan workers and lying to security officers to prevent the workers from being heard. The order, issued by ALRB Administrative Law Judge Mark R. Soble, directed the UFW to: Sign a notice that Soble’s office had written, for translation into “appropriate languages” by an ALRB agent, and prepare copies to be mailed “individually to each and every agricultural worker employed by…

In a stunning development, the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board ruled that the UFW broke the law when it lied to security guards to prevent Pick Justice members from attending a public meeting. The ALRB also found that the UFW committed “a very serious Unfair Labor Practice,” and seeks a cease and desist order to force the UFW to comply with the law. The unusual ruling contained an order for the UFW to admit in writing that it broke the…

It isn’t often in California that an employer encourages workers to fight for their rights. But that’s what Dan Gerawan did two weeks ago. California Ag Today, an industry publication, got a transcript of Gerawan’s statement to workers after the November state Supreme Court decision affirming State power to coerce workers into a contract from a politically favored union. Importantly, the Supreme Court did uphold the right of farmworkers to choose their union, or choose whether they want a union…

The recent California Supreme Court ruling “isn’t fair to anyone except union leaders who stand to collect 3 percent of the pay from workers who may not wish to be represented by the UFW at all. The last thing courts should do is pick the pockets of the people who pick the fruit.” That’s what the Orange County Register editors concluded in a rebuke of the state’s high court. “The United Farm Workers union won a victory over Gerawan Farming, Inc.,…

PICK JUSTICE NEWS RELEASE / FRESNO – The California Supreme Court didn’t surprise anyone when it overturned a lower court’s ruling that state agencies cannot coerce farmworkers into United Farm Workers contracts. But the justices did uphold the right of workers to choose whether or not they wanted UFW representation. “We anticipated that the Supreme Court would side with the state’s political leaders to force contracts on us to benefit the politically-connected UFW,” said Pick Justice leader Silvia Lopez. “The…

The United Farm Workers is dying, and everybody knows it. Its aging leadership – Chavez family members and their cronies – have run the union for 20, 30, even more than 40 years. They’ve run the UFW right into the ground. The UFW is under a court order to pay as much as $2 million to its own employees whom it had cheated. Paid membership has collapsed more than 90 percent. Today, the UFW represents less than 1 percent of…

The California Supreme Court didn’t surprise anyone when it overturned a lower court’s ruling that state agencies cannot coerce farmworkers into United Farm Workers contracts. But the justices did uphold the right of workers to choose whether or not they wanted UFW representation. “We anticipated that the Supreme Court would side with the state’s political leaders to force contracts on us to benefit the politically-connected UFW,” said Pick Justice leader Silvia Lopez. Pleasant surprise – We can still de-certify the…

Once again, the UFW conglomerate has broken the law. This time, it’s a repeat offender. KUFW, the union’s “non-profit” radio station that broadcasts in the Visalia area, is illegally running paid commercials promoting for-profit entities – a violation of its broadcasting license. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in Washington, DC, has been alerted about the repeat violations. “The FCC knows a lot about KUFW’s revenue-generating activities,” attorney David A. Schwarz writes in the Weekly Standard. “Over the last two decades,…

A lawmaker from California’s #WeFeedYou belt has called on the state Supreme Court to overturn an illegal law that allows unelected bureaucrats to force a #UFW contract on farmworkers. The law denies workers the right to bargain on their own behalf, and denies them the right to vote whether to accept the contract. It forces workers to fork over a chunk of their income to the union that the state forced on them, and forces employers to fire workers who…

In what farmworkers fear is a case of stepped-up government harassment and intimidation, a California Deputy Attorney General was caught photographing protesters outside a state courthouse. Deputy Attorney General Benjamin Glickman took photos or videos of Pick Justice protesters who opposed the state’s attempt to coerce them into a contract with the United Farm Workers (UFW). The September 5, 2017 incident took place outside the California Supreme Court. Glickman is seen in a Pick Justice video, posted on Instagram. Stills…

This week marks four years since the State of California denied thousands of farmworkers the voting rights that they are guaranteed under the law. It was this week in 2013 that the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) – after trying to prevent them from voting – finally supervised a vote among Gerawan farmworkers to de-certify the UFW as their organized labor representative. The workers made a huge turnout to cast ballots to get rid of the UFW as their…